Snowstorms to hit state today, Saturday

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The most the area road crews can hope for is a little sleep layered in between storms.

"All we can do is be prepared," John Plummer, Brookfield's road superintendent, said Wednesday. "Our barns are full of sand and salt. I'm telling our guys to get some rest and get ready."

"It's New England," said Pete Hill, Ridgefield's director of public works. "We expect this sort of thing."

But expecting it and dealing with it can be two different things -- especially if it's snowing like mad during rush hour. That may happen today.

Bill Jacquemin, chief meteorologist at the Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury, said a fast-moving but intense snowstorm will hit the state today, beginning in early afternoon and ending around 9 p.m. The storm could bring the region 5 to 8 inches of snow.

Jacquemin said the storm will be at its worst in the late afternoon or early evening -- just when people are driving home from work.

"Rush hour will be horrendous," he said. "If it's snowing more than an inch an hour, there's no way road crews can keep up with that."

Ordinarily, a 5- to 8-inch snowstorm would be the main meteorological event for the week -- especially when it's the first serious snow of the season.

But Jacquemin said the storm coming Saturday afternoon will be a classic nor'easter -- a coastal storm that picks up moisture in the Gulf of Mexico before heading north. In this case, Jacquemin said, additional moisture from tropical storm Olga will fuel the mix as well.

Jacquemin said it's too early to predict the storm's track. If it stays inland, or to our west, it will bring the state a mix of rain, snow and sleet.

"But I have to say that the computer models now are showing the storm staying to our east," he said. "That means we stay on the cold side of the storm and get all snow. All I can say now is that it will be a potent storm. Whatever it brings, we'll get a lot of it."

Antonio Iadarola, Danbury's director of public works, said the city's highway crew worked hard Wednesday to make sure all its equipment was in working order. The crew will fix plows to trucks early this morning, check city streets for icy patches and then get ready to do battle.

"We'll make sure we're ready to go," he said. "If they can get a little rest between storms, they will. But that storm on Saturday -- from what we're hearing, it could be a hell of a storm."